CEP010 – Low Volume and Low Cost with Timon Skerutsch
- Author
- Contextual Electronics
- Published
- Wed 13 Jan 2021
- Episode Link
- https://contextualelectronics.com/cep010-low-volume-and-low-cost-with-timon/
Welcome, Timon Skerutsch (@timonsku)!
Show notes
- Timon and Chris know each other from Twitter and from past Hackaday events (Timon won one of the Hackaday Prize awards for his Linux Tablet)
- Timon has been doing experiments with the recently released Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)
- This includes creating a carrier board using an Othermill circuit board router
- This also led to the creation of the Piunora, a Rasberry Pi in the shape of an Arduino Uno.
- Interested in getting a Piunora? Sign up here for the mailing list (general) and sign up here for the Crowdfunding campaign
- His dayjob is working on a technical exhibitions, such as museum exhibits and trade fairs.
- He is the only person there, so there are limited mentorship opportunities
- He is mostly self taught
- The low volume nature of technical exhibitions means Timon has had to reduce costs without volume
- Bunnie Huang‘s book
- Chris thought it was the Shenzhen Guide (it was not what Timon meant)
- The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in making and breaking hardware
- When finding a manufacturer, it’s important to build relationships
- Reducing cost means that you might need to move outside “western” manufacturers
- It’s easier to find alternative suppliers using sites like LCSC or Alibaba
- Import costs can be high if manufacturing in China
- The rough ABC Bill of Materials (BOM) discussed during this episode
- The ABC Rev A Schematic is available on the course site now
- “It’s often about finding the right keyword for the components you’re searching for”
- Selling a “pro” and a “lite” version can offer the board at a lower price for people that don’t care about every feature.
- Check out Timon’s youtube
- Timon helps out with and participates on the Maker Cast, a monthly show that highlights different people on YouTube who make things and discuss them.
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